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“First impressions often end up defining something/someone. When you look at the photos taken, what do you see?”

This work shares with the broader community what day-to-day life is like from the perspective of men with a criminal record. The goal is to raise awareness about the institutional, and often invisible, barriers preventing authentic community integration post-incarceration and decrease stigma for people who have been labelled as criminals.

We were pleased to partner with SkyWorks Charitable Foundation and the Immigrant Women’s Centre, Good Shepherd, Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion, and the Sexual Assault Centre Hamilton Area to produce Sharing Our Stories, a community filmmaking project to build leadership skills for newcomer women in Hamilton.

My name is Bob O. The task of taking photos originally began in response to a comment that was made on the evening news of a local TV station regarding “schizophrenic weather”. People were negatively impacted by this statement, which was inappropriate and did not make sense. This comment highlighted the stigma those of us with mental illness face daily. Lengthy discussions resulted in some of us participating in a Photovoice group where we could capture photos that reflect experiences that people with mental health and addictions face in our community.